UFO’s are real…
Does it feel like the start of another week has you stuck on the tarmac? Don’t worry, because it’s Monday, and The Nest is once again ready to fire all of our guns at once and explode into space! That’s the day we send a lunar rover to search deep down in that dark asteroid of lost hits we like to call the Dusty Vinyl Archive! DJ Scratchy’s got her spacesuit on and is ready to launch the needle on another interstellar record, while the Sponkies are streaming Space Camp on their phones. Three, two, one….. lift off!!!!
It has happened so often in the music industry that one song can literally be the difference between a band becoming worldwide superstars or completely fading into oblivion. Sometimes, however, even that striking moment of success is eventually forgotten about and can leave you as one of the more anonymous success stories in pop music. It was that latter fate that befell a British band by the name of Jigsaw, who in 1975 suddenly found themselves the authors of an international hit song…. and a pretty good one at that!
“Sky High” wound up as a Top 10 hit in almost every English speaking western nation around the world… coming in at #3 in the US. Unfortunately, the song barely gets played at all anymore… and it doesn’t help that Jigsaw had very little other material reach the charts, with just one other low-rated Top 40 song in either the US or UK. Part of what made “Sky High” such a radio hit in the mid 70’s was that Jigsaw’s style was influenced heavily by one of that decade’s biggest pop stars, Paul McCartney. In fact, the first few times I heard this song, I was sure it was done by Wings. And I doubt I’m alone in that mis-attribution, making Jigsaw stand out even less…
Yeah, I blew another puny band sky high!
Here’s a quote from Jigsaw’s Wikipedia page I linked to above, describing the band’s early, pre-stardom days….
“On stage, Jigsaw were a wild rock band who had a high energy live show; drum kits were set on fire, explosions were set off as an effect, Tony Britnell performed fire eating and Clive Scott would make his Marshall stack explode and disintegrate.”
Now contrast that mental image with what you see in the video….
The only thing wild and explosive about these guys is that hideous 70’s hair. They should set that clothing on fire, though…
Come back next Monday for another sky high earworm…
Evil Squirrel's Nest 
love it!!! and it is rare that the drum guy is the singer… love the right guy , he reminds me a little of mr. spock n;O)
I’m not sure how he can even do his drumming with that huge microphone stand in front of him! He definitely had better hair than Phil Collins…
Didn’t recognize the title or the band name, but yes, I remember this song, and love it! I hear it now and again on the oldies stations too. 🙂
I only remember hearing this on the 70’s station I listened to in the 90’s. The one hit wonders of the 70’s don’t seem to get the recognition and airplay that their 80’s brethren do…
I do remember the song – barely……but I love the 70s “look” of the clothes and hair……and I wonder how many cans of hairspray those guys needed to keep that hair in place!
Pam
A bunch. And they probably used the leftover cans to blow up their instruments after the show!
I love this song. It’s funny because sometimes when I hear one song, it immediately reminds me of another. Not quite sure what makes these two a pair in my mind, but I feel like Sky High’s evil twin (in my head, anyway) is Pilot’s Magic. I dunno. What do you think, ES?
Magic comes up as a recommended video on YouTube when watching this… and yes, I do think those songs pair up very well! One word one hit wonder bands with songs that both have disco scratching in them. A long time ago, in a post that mentioned Mark Lindsay’s “Arizona,” one of my readers noted that it immediately gave her an “Indiana Wants Me” earworm. I always paired those two songs together too, and it got me to thinking of how many other songs are indelibly linked in my mind like that. One such pair is America’s “Tin Man” and Fastball’s “Out Of My Head.” Despite being recorded 25 years apart, they both have the same bizarre lyrics scheme of one verse then repeat the chorus and instrumental break until the end…
I don’t remember ever hearing this song. I’m digging the white suits.
I’m sure the roadie that has to do their laundry would disagree on the white suits…
Wow, it is really hard to imagine the guys in this video going nuts and setting shit on fire! I don’t know if I ever heard this song and I’m pretty sure I never heard of Jigsaw. Thanks for this trip to the 70s!
They look too innocent and nerdy to go all punk on stage….. except for the lone black haired guy who has that menacing serial killer look on his face. While the other guys are lamely kicking at the drum set with their platform shoes, he’d probably be setting fire to people in the first row of the audience…
I love(d) this song! Their stage presence leaves a bit to be desired. It’s as if they were imitating MilliVanilli on stage. But they sure knew how to rock satin suits and bellbottoms.
I think all those TV concert shows were lip synched back in the day… which would also explain why this sounds exactly like the album cut as well. As long as nobody trips over the cord to the record player, it’s all good…
Cords and bell bottoms have tripped up more than one musician. 🕺🏻
Yeah, you certainly wouldn’t want to meet them in a dark alley…
Maybe they should have waited until they were a bit more rich and successful before exploding all their expensive equipment.
Yeah, that’s a good way to get noticed… as well as a good way to end up bankrupt. Now we know why they only had one hit…